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MASTERS     IN     ART 


?&rawinjjiS    of 
(Cbc   gounger 


f 

GERMANSCHOOL  U 


k  6  /i'/  3  ■ 


tlVriffi^di.aj4  ak  Soviliampbn. 


J  AHT     PLATE    1 


335706 


HOI/BEIIT 

WILLIAM  FITZWILLIAM,  EASL  OP  SOTJTHAMPTOli 

WINDSOH  CASTLE,  ENGLAIfS 


HASTEBS  IN  AHT     PLATE  II 


TheLadjr  I^lioli. 


lASTEHS  IN  AHT     PLATE  III 


HOIiBEIN 
THE  liADY  ELIOT 
WINDSOH  CASTIiE,  ENGIiAN 


[A8TEBS  IN  AHT     PLATE  rV 


HOLBEIN 

8IH  THOMAS  ELIOT 

WINDSOH  CASTLE,  ENGLAND 


U  5«i..- 


UASTEHS  IN  AHT     PLATE  V 


HOliBKIN 
MISTRESS  ZOUCH 
WTNBSOH  CASTLE, 


ULSTERS  IN  AST     PliATE  VI 


HOUBEIN 

SIH  JOHN  GODSALVE 

WINDSOH  CASTI.E,  ENGLANJ 


MASTEES  IN  ART     PLATE  VII 


HOLBEIN 

THE  liADT  VATJX 

WIiroSOB  CASTIiE,  ENGIiAN 


KASTEHS  JS  AHT     PLATE  VTH 


HOLBEIN 

JOHIf  FISHEH,  BISHOP  OF  HOCHESTEI 

YTIIfDSOH  CASTLE,  ENGLAKIJ 


HASTEHS  IN  AHT      PLATE  IX 


HOliBEIX 
THE  liADr  HEVENINGHAM 
WINDSOK  CASTIiE,  ENaLAN 


3  IN  AHT     PliATE  X 


HOIiBEIN 
SIR  JOHN  GAGE 
)SOK  CASTLE,  ENGLAWI 


PORTHAIT  OF   HOX,BEIN 


MAN'S   ENGHAVIKG 


During  the  last  year  of  his  life  Holbein  apparently  painted  his  own  likeness  three 
times,  once  in  miniature  and  twice  at  about  half-life  size.  Of  the  two  larger  por- 
traits, the  one  in  the  Uffizi  Gallery  has  been  so  altered  by  repainting  that  it  can  now 
hardly  be  considered  as  a  likeness.  Both  the  miniature  and  the  second  painting  are 
lost;  but  from  one  or  the  other  of  them  two  engravings  were  made  during  the  sev- 
enteenth century,  one  by  Vorsterman  and  the  other  by  Hollar.  It  is  upon  Vorster- 
man's  rendering  that  our  reproduction  is  based.  A  comparison  with  the  only  ade- 
quate likeness  of  the  artist  that  exists  (reproduced  in  a  former  issue  of  this  Series), 
which  was  drawn  by  Holbein  when  he  was  twenty-five,  will  show  that  twenty 
years  later  his  face  had  assumed  a  graver  expression,  and  that,  following  the  fashion 
of  the  English  court,  he  had  let  his  beard  grow  in  imitation  of  the  king. 


MASTERS    IN    ART 


BORN  1497:    DIED  1543 
GERMAN    SCHOOL 

THE  present  issue  treats  only  of  Holbein's  portrait  drawings  at  Windsor 
Castle,  England.  His  paintings  were  considered  in  Masters  in  Art, 
Volume  L,  Part  4.  In  that  number  will  be  found  another  account  of  his  life, 
further  criticisms  of  his  art,  and  a  fuller  bibliography  of  the  literature  con- 
cerning him. 

HANS  HOLBEIN  the  Younger  was  born  in  1497,  at  Augsburg,  in 
Swabia.  He  was  the  son  of  Hans  Holbein,  an  artist  of  decided  merit, 
whose  work  is  marked  by  a  purer  taste  and  a  more  agreeable  realism  than 
that  of  his  contemporaries,  and  who  was  the  first  to  temper  German  art  with 
Italian  elements.  In  some  cases  the  work  of  the  elder  Holbein  has  with 
difficulty  been  distinguished  from  that  of  his  more  celebrated  son,  who  was 
no  doubt  educated  as  a  painter  in  Augsburg  by  his  father,  and  perhaps,  too, 
by  his  uncle  Sigmund,  also  a  painter  there.  Among  the  pictures  now  pre- 
served in  his  native  city,  only  one  by  the  younger  Holbein,  a  Madonna,  can 
be  recorded  as  authentic;  but  it  is  believed  that  he  had  a  share  in  the  fine 
altar-piece,  'The  Martyrdom  of  St.  Sebastian,'  painted  by  his  father,  which 
is  now  in  the  Munich  Gallery. 

About  the  year  1514,  the  young  Hans,  accompanied  by  his  brother 
Ambrosius,  left  Augsburg,  and  sought  employment  as  an  illustrator  of  books 
at  Basle,  then  the  centre  of  the  humanist  revival  in  literature,  and  celebrated 
as  the  home  of  many  of  the  most  eminent  scholars  of  the  day.  Prominent 
among  them  was  Erasmus,  who  is  said  to  have  been  one  of  Holbein's  first 
patrons,  and  for  whom,  soon  after  his  arrival,  he  illustrated  an  edition  of  the 
'Praise  of  Folly,'  now  in  the  Museum  of  Basle,  with  pen-and-ink  sketches. 
It  was  in  Basle  that  the  great  Amerbach  printing-press  had  been  established, 
and  after  the  death  of  its  founder,  John  Amerbach,  the  business  was  carried 
on  by  his  partner,  John  Froben,  who  employed  Holbein  to  draw  title-page 
blocks  and  initials  for  the  new  editions  of  the  Bible  and  the  classics  which 
issued  from  his  press.  The  artist's  leisure  moments  seem  to  have  been  de- 
voted to  the  production  of  a  schoolmaster's  sign,  still  preserved  in  the  Basle 
Museum,  and  a  table  painted  with  allegories,  now  in  the  library  of  the  Uni- 


22  J^a^teriBfin^rt 

versity  of  Zurich.  He  also  painted  several  remarkable  portraits,  among 
them  those  of  the  Burgomaster  Jacob  Meyer  and  his  wife,  and  that  of  his 
friend  Bonifacius  Amerbach. 

Notwithstanding  these  and  other  commissions,  Holbein  did  not,  however, 
find  sufficient  occupation  in  Basle;  and  we  hear  of  him  at  about  this  time 
in  Lucerne,  where  he  was  employed  to  decorate  the  inside  and  outside  of  a 
new  house  belonging  to  one  Jacob  von  Hertenstein.  This  house  remained 
standing  until  1824,  when  it  was  destroyed  to  make  room  for  local  im- 
provements, though  copies  of  the  paintings  with  which  it  was  decorated  are 
in  the  town  library  at  Lucerne.  It  has  been  frequently  suggested  that  at 
about  this  period  Holbein  may  have  crossed  the  Alps  and  journeyed  into 
Northern  Italy,  so  marked  is  the  Italian  influence  in  many  of  his  works; 
but  there  is  no  proof  that  he  did  so,  and  the  Italian  manner  may  be  traced 
to  his  probable  study  of  engravings  of  the  works  of  Mantegna  and  other 
transalpine  masters. 

At  any  rate,  he  returned  to  Basle  in  151 9,  and  was  admitted  into  the 
gild  of  painters  of  that  town.  In  the  same  year  he  married  Elsbeth  Schmidt, 
a  widow  with  one  son,  and  by  her  had  several  children.  He  at  first  found 
employment  in  making  designs  for  stained  glass  windows  and  in  painting 
the  outsides  of  many  houses  with  simulated  architectural  features;  but  before 
long  he  received  the  more  important  commission  to  paint  the  walls  of  the 
town  hall  of  Basle  with  scenes  chosen  from  classical  history.  He  also  exe- 
cuted several  religious  works,  such  as  a  'Last  Supper,'  the  eight  Passion 
pictures,  a  'Dead  Christ,'  a  'Nativity,'  an  'Adoration  of  the  Magi,'  a  'St. 
Ursula  and  St.  George,'  the  great  'Madonna  and  Saints'  at  Solothurn,  and 
the  still  greater  'Madonna  with  the  Meyer  Family'  now  in  the  Ducal  Palace 
at  Darmstadt.  This  subject,  painted  for  the  ex-burgomaster  of  Basle,  Jacob 
Meyer,  is  perhaps  best  known  through  the  famous  picture  in  the  Dresden 
Gallery,  now  considered  to  be  an  excellent  and  possibly  contemporaneous 
copy. 

In  1522  Luther's  translation  of  the  New  Testament  was  published  at 
Wittenberg,  and  the  printers  of  Basle  issued  numerous  reprints  of  it.  The 
title-pages  and  illustrations  for  many  of  these  editions  were  designed  by  Hol- 
bein. He  also  designed  the  famous  series  of  woodcuts  illustrating  'The  Dance 
of  Death,'  which  reveals  him  as  one  of  the  leading  agents  in  the  spread  of 
the  new  doctrines  of  the  Reformation,  now  making  great  strides  in  Germany. 
The  dissensions  which  these  doctrines  caused,  however,  brought  about  a 
general  paralysis  of  art.  It  put  an  end  to  all  orders  for  altar-pieces,  for  pic- 
tures of  the  Madonna  or  of  saints.  Even  classic  subjects  were  tabooed  by' 
the  Reformers;  and  Holbein  soon  realized  that  if  he  was  to  gain  a  living  as 
a  painter  he  must  go  where  art  held  a  different  position  from  that  to  which 
it  was  relegated  in  Basle.  Accordingly,  taking  a  bold  resolution,  he  deter- 
mined to  carry  out  a  previously  conceived  plan  of  visiting  England;  and  in 
1526,  provided  with  a  letter  of  introduction  from  Erasmus  to  Sir  Thomas 
More,  he  crossed  the  English  Channel  to  try  his  fortune  in  another  land. 


i^an^j^olbein  23 

Henry  VIII. ,  whose  court  is  said  to  have  been  the  home  of  all  the  arts, 
of  science,  of  painting,  of  architecture,  and  of  literature,  was  at  this  time  on 
the  English  throne.  He  had  set  the  example  of  collecting  works  of  art,  and 
"the  choicest  present  that  you  could  make  him  was  a  picture,  a  statue,  a 
piece  of  tapestry,  or  a  beautifully  chased  suit  of  armor."  Sir  Thomas  More 
was  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer,  and  William  Warham,  another  corre- 
spondent of  Erasmus,  was  Archbishop  of  Canterbury.  More  was  then  a 
close  personal  friend  of  the  king,  who  was  in  the  habit  of  taking  the  royal 
barge  at  Whitehall  stairs  and  rowing  down  the  Thames  to  Chelsea,  where 
More  lived,  to  lunch  or  dine  with  the  chancellor  unannounced;  and  after- 
wards would  walk  up  and  down  with  him  in  his  garden,  the  royal  arm  thrown 
around  More's  neck,  while  they  talked  of  theology,  geometry,  and  music, 
and  in  the  evening  they  would  discuss  the  mysteries  of  astronomy;  or  it  might 
be  that  the  king  would  listen  to  a  freshly  written  page  of  his  host's  'Utopia,' 
with  its  arguments  in  favor  of  freedom  of  conscience.  Through  Sir  Thomas 
More,  who  had  welcomed  the  painter  at  first  as  a  friend  of  Erasmus,  but  who 
was  not  slow  to  appreciate  his  genius,  Holbein  obtained  access  to  the  lead- 
ing men  of  the  court;  and  in  portraiture,  the  only  form  of  art  then  in  demand 
in  England,  found  ample  occupation.  Most  of  the  principal  men  and  women 
of  the  day  sat  to  him,  and  in  the  priceless  collection  of  drawings  now  at 
Windsor,  made  partly  at  this  time  and  partly  during  his  subsequent  stay  in 
England,  are  to  be  found  many  of  the  studies  for  their  portraits. 

After  a  sojourn  of  two  years  in  England,  Holbein  returned  to  Basle.  Here, 
as  the  records  show,  he  purchased  a  house  for  his  wife  and  children,  whose 
portraits,  now  in  the  Basle  Museum,  he  painted  at  this  time.  The  City 
Council  asked  him  to  complete  the  frescos  of  the  town  hall,  which,  owing 
to  the  depressions  of  the  times,  had  been  left  unfinished;  and  the  sketches 
which  he  made  for  these  pictures  show  that  he  had  not,  through  his  devotion 
to  portraiture,  lost  the  spirit  of  his  earlier  days,  but  was  still  great  as  a  com- 
poser. He  soon  found,  however,  that  the  Basle  to  which  he  had  returned 
afforded  no  free  field  for  art.  The  reformed  religion  now  held  full  sway 
there,  and  the  citizens  were  forced  into  compliance  with  it.  An  iconoclastic 
outbreak  took  place  which,  in  one  day,  destroyed  almost  all  the  religious 
pictures  in  the  city,  including  some  of  Holbein's  own;  and  notwithstanding 
the  appeal  of  his  fellow-citizens  to  remain  among  them,  Holbein,  after  an 
absence  of  four  years,  returned  to  England  in  1532. 

In  England  too,  however,  he  found  many  changes.  Sir  Thomas  More 
had  fallen  from  royal  favor;  Archbishop  Warham  was  dead;  and  it  was 
among  his  own  countrymen,  the  German  merchants  of  the  Steelyard, — mem- 
bers of  the  Hanseatic  League  settled  in  London, — that  Holbein  found  em- 
ployment. For  them  he  painted  many  of  his  finest  portraits,  and  at  their 
instigation  designed  an  allegorical  pageant  representing  Parnassus  on  the 
occasion  of  Anne  Boleyn's  coronation  procession.  He  was  also  employed  to 
execute  two  large  paintings  for  the  walls  of  their  gildhall,  depicting  'The 
Triumph  of  Riches'  and  'The  Triumph  of  Poverty.'     Only  the  original 


24  0ia0ttm    in    %tt 

sketch  for  'The  Triumph  of  Riches'  exists.  It  was  at  about  this  time,  too, 
that  he  painted  the  important  picture  known  as  'The  Ambassadors,'  which 
now  hangs  in  the  National  Gallery,  London. 

It  is  not  until  1536  that  there  is  any  record  of  Holbein's  official  con- 
nection with  the  court.  In  that  year,  however,  we  find  him  spoken  of  as 
"the  king's  painter,"  and  in  that  year  he  painted  the  new  queen,  Jane  Sey- 
mour, and  in  the  year  following  frescoed  a  group  of  Henry  VIII.  with  his 
father  and  mother  and  Jane  Seymour  on  the  wall  of  the  privy  chamber  at 
Whitehall.  This  fresco  perished  in  the  fire  of  1698,  but  the  original  cartoon 
for  the  figures  of  Henry  VII.  and  Henry  VIII.  is  at  Hardwick  Hall  in  the 
possession  of  the  Duke  of  Devonshire. 

As  court  painter,  Holbein  was  called  upon  to  "do  everything  that  could 
be  done  with  a  brush;  to  paint  everything  that  required  painting — a  wall,  a 
coat  of  arms,  a  shield,  a  portrait,  or  a  battle-piece ;  and  like  most  of  the  dis- 
tinguished painters  of  his  time,  he  was  a  man  of  infinite  variety  and  read- 
iness. He  could  turn  his  hand  to  everything;  could  paint  a  portrait  or  dec- 
orate a  wall;  design  a  gateway  or  take  a  sketch  of  the  Duchess  of  Milan  or 
Anne  of  Cleves  for  Henry  to  fall  in  love  with;  emboss  in  wax  for  the  beau- 
ties of  the  court,  or  color  a  shield  of  arms  for  the  knights  of  the  tournament; 
design  a  drinking-cup  for  Jane  Seymour,  or  a  sword-hilt  for  the  king;  or  take 
up  his  graving-knife  and  cut  his  own  designs  for  Sir  Thomas  More's  '  Utopia,' 
or  a  new  edition  of  the  Bible." 

Henry  VIII.  seems  to  have  held  his  court  painter  in  higher  estimation 
than  most  of  the  men  of  the  craft  were  held  at  that  time.  As  an  illustration 
of  this  Horace  Walpole  tells  the  following  story,  for  which  Carel  van  Mander 
is  responsible:  "One  day,  as  Holbein  was  privately  drawing  some  lady's 
picture  for  the  king,  a  great  lord  forced  himself  into  the  chamber.  Holbein 
threw  him  down  stairs;  the  peer  cried  out;  Holbein  bolted  himself  in, 
escaped  over  the  top  of  the  house,  and  running  directly  to  the  king,  fell  on 
his  knees,  and  besought  his  majesty  to  pardon  him,  without  declaring  the 
offence.  The  king  promised  to  forgive  him  if  he  would  tell  the  truth;  but 
soon  began  to  repent,  saying  that  he  should  not  easily  overlook  such  insults; 
and  bade  him  wait  in  the  apartment  till  he  had  learned  more  of  the  matter. 
Immediately  arrived  the  lord  with  his  complaint,  but  sinking  the  provoca- 
tion. At  first  the  monarch  heard  the  story  with  temper,  but  broke  out, 
reproaching  the  nobleman  with  his  want  of  truth,  and  adding,  'You  have 
not  to  do  with  Holbein,  but  with  me.  I  tell  you,  of  seven  peasants  I  can 
make  as  many  lords,  but  not  one  Holbein.  Begone;  and  remerriber  that  if 
ever  you  pretend  to  revenge  yourself,  I  shall  look  on  any  injury  offered  to 
the  painter  as  done  to  myself."' 

A  few  months  after  the  death  of  Jane  Seymour,  Holbein  was  sent  to  Brus- 
sels to  paint  a  portrait  of  Christina  of  Denmark,  the  widowed  Duchess  of 
Milan,  for  whose  hand  the  English  king  now  entered  into  negotiations.  Al- 
though he  had  but  three  hours  in  which  to  accomplish  his  work,  the  painter 
was  thoroughly  successful.     The  portrait  that  he  then  painted  is  probably 


f^an^    ^nlhtin  25 

the  one  now  at  Windsor,  not  the  exquisitely  finished  full-length  from  Arundel 
Castle.  ^ 

Before  returning  to  England  Holbein  paid  a  visit  to  his  family  at  Basle, 
where  he  made  his  appearance  clad  in  silk  and  satin,  and  was  entertained 
at  a  banquet  by  the  citizens,  who  voted  him  an  annuity,  as  well  as  conferring 
one  upon  his  wife  for  two  years,  at  the  end  of  which  time  he  promised  to 
return  and  take  up  his  final  abode  among  them. 

By  New  Year's  day,  1539,  he  was  again  in  England,  and  we  are  told  of 
an  homage  he  paid  the  king  on  that  occasion  by  presenting  him  with  "a  table 
of  the  pictour  of  the  prince's  grace," — possibly  the  portrait  of  the  young 
Edward  VI.  which  is  now  at  Hanover. 

During  the  following  summer  Henry  sent  his  court  painter  on  another 
mission  to  the  continent,  this  time  to  paint  a  portrait  of  the  Princess  Anne  of 
Cleves  at  Diiren,  near  Cologne,  with  a  result  sufficiently  attractive  to  decide 
the  king  matrimonially  in  her  favor.  As  Walpole  tells  the  story,  "Holbein 
drew  so  favorable  a  likeness  of  the  princess  that  Henry  was  content  to  wed 
her;  but  when  he  found  her  so  inferior  to  her  portrait  the  storm,  which  really 
should  have  been  directed  at  his  painter,  burst  on  his  minister;  and  Cromwell 
lost  his  head  because  Anne  was  'a  Flanders  mare,'  not  a  Venus,  as  Holbein 
had  represented  her." 

Holbein  was  at  work  upon  a  large  picture  of  Henry  VHI.  granting  a 
charter  to  the  newly  incorporated  Company  of  the  Barber-surgeons  when 
a  pestilence  broke  out  in  London,  to  which  he  fell  a  victim;  and  on  some 
day  between  the  seventh  of  October  and  the  twenty-ninth  of  November  in 
the  year  1543,  after  making  a  hasty  will,  he  died.  About  his  death,  as  about 
his  life,  little  definite  is  known.  The  place  of  his  burial  cannot  be  certainly 
determined,  although  he  is  supposed  to  have  been  buried  in  the  Church  of  St. 
Katherine  Cree,  London.  In  the  parish  of  St.  Andrew  Undershaft,  where  he 
lived,  he  was  rated  as  a  stranger,  showing  that  he  was  not  a  permanent  resi- 
dent in  England. 


Cije  art  of  floltietn 

JEAN    ROUSSEAU  «HANS    HOLBEIN' 

HOLBEIN'S  genius  is  nowhere  more  clearly  shown  than  in  his  draw- 
ings. Indeed,  we  may  question  whether  even  his  finest  paintings  add 
anything  to  the  admiration  which  we  feel  before  the  drawings  at  Windsor 
and  at  Basle.  Painting  seems,  somehow,  to  have  limited  and  confined  the 
freer  sweep  of  his  talent.  A  habitual  and  characteristic  patience  seems  to  be 
the  dominant  note  in  his  pictures.  No  Gothic  works  are  more  minutely  studied. 
If,  however,  their  finish  is  equal  to  that  of  the  primitives  there  is  none  of 
the  primitive  timidity,  and  they  bear  witness  to  wonderful  power  and  to  per- 
severance, foresight,  knowledge,  and  will.     But  his  drawings  are  freer,  and 


26  ;f^a^ttt^    in    '^tt 

show  that  his  talent  was  infinitely  more  supple  than  we  should  conclude  from 
his  paintings  alone.  Nothing  is  wanting  to  them  either  in  conception,  color, 
or  technique.  Limited  as  they  are  to  mere  sketches — sober,  workmanlike, 
rapid — they  seem  as  complete  as  his  most  finished  pictures.  His  pencil  has 
seized  the  suppleness  of  stuffs,  the  quality  and  gleam  of  steel,  the  texture  and 
tone  of  flesh,  movement,  momentary  expression — all  with  the  concision  and 
mastery  of  one  who  can  recognize  and  portray  with  one  brief  stroke  the 
fundamental  elements  which  comprise  type,  expression,  and  effect. 

No  one  has  excelled  Holbein  in  grasp  of  this  essential  trinity  in  which  the 
characteristic  lies.  We  shall  see  it  strikingly  if  we  will  compare  these 
sketches  with  any  photograph,  and  observe  how  much  more  lifelike,  more 
fundamental,  more  true  they  are;  for  they  are  freed  of  the  numberless  details 
which,  signifying  nothing,  merely  serve  to  disguise  the  true  physiognomy  in 
a  photograph,  that,  with  all  its  minute  and  infallible  exactness,  is  often  so 
little  true  as  a  likeness. 

In  Holbein's  drawings  we  find  every  element  needed  to  constitute  true 
art  —  charm,  conception,  and  effect.  Few,  if  indeed  any,  of  the  great 
draughtsmen — even  Masaccio  with  his  simpler  line,  or  Leonardo  with  his 
stronger  modeling  of  masses — have  succeeded  in  giving  us  more  pow- 
erful impressions.  And  if  his  drawings  are  among  his  greatest  works,  the 
greatest  of  his  drawings  are  the  historic  portraits  preserved  at  Windsor 
Castle.  How  they  call  up  the  time!  As  you  look  at  them  you  are  made 
contemporary  with  these  people  of  the  court  of  Henry  VHL;  you  know 
them,  even  to  intimacy,  one  and  all.  Here  is  the  venerable  William  Warham, 
Archbishop — a  portrait  finer,  more  delicate,  more  supple,  than  even  the  fin- 
ished painting  of  him  in  the  Louvre.  How  subtly,  as  if  by  a  woman's  gentle 
hand,  are  the  ravages  of  age  portrayed,  the  soft  and  wearied  eyes,  and  the 
firm  mouth,  with  its  sad,  peaceful  line.  Nor  is  the  sketch  of  John  Fisher, 
Bishop  of  Rochester,  less  fine.  See  how  wonderfully  Holbein's  pencil  has 
traced  the  contour  of  that  emaciated  cheek;  look  at  those  eyes,  as  unquiet 
as  if  the  future  martyr,  who  was  to  lose  his  head  for  his  fidelity  to  his  relig- 
ious faith,  already  foresaw  and  braved  that  tragic  end.  Here  is  Sir  Thomas 
Eliot,  the  friend  of  Thomas  More,  like  him  made  immortal  in  a  superb  draw- 
ing, with  its  wonderful  modeling,  discreet  mouth,  firm  features,  and  serious, 
almost  severe  look. 

It  is  in  such  moral  revelations  as  these  that  we  see  Holbein  at  his  great- 
est. No  master  has  looked  through  the  human  face  into  the  human  soul 
with  a  more  unerring  penetration ;  none  has  more  completely  realized  Fro- 
mentin's  superb  definition :  "Painting  is  the  art  of  expressing  the  invisible  by 
means  of  the  visible."  Holbein  amongst  all  portraitists  has  most  inevitably 
guessed  the  secret  behind  the  mask;  has  most  invariably  made  the  silent 
glance  and  the  mute  mouth  to  speak;  has  most  pitilessly  branded  the  char- 
acter, life,  and  soul  upon  the  countenance. — from  the  French 


f$  an0    ^  tilhtin  27 

THEOPHILE  GAUTIER   AND   OTHERS  «  LES   DIEUX   ET  LES   DEMI-DIEUX   DE  LA  PEINTURE  ' 

RUBENS,  who  was  privileged  to  speak  with  authority,  said  of  Holbein : 
L.  "He  is  the  painter  of  the  living,  breathing  truth";  and  Rubens  was 
right,  for  it  is  not  only  the  aspect  but  the  very  soul  of  nature  that  Holbein 
shows  us  on  his  canvases.  Standing  before  a  portrait  by  his  hand  we  see, 
beneath  the  often  rude  externals  of  the  men  and  women  of  his  time,  trans- 
figuring these  externals  as  the  unseen  sun  transmutes  the  morning  mists,  the 
very  pulse  and  temper  of  the  sixteenth  century.  With  him  art  is  not  a  poetic 
misrepresentation  of  truth,  but  truth  itself,  for  better  or  for  worse.  Rem- 
brandt saw  reality,  even  in  its  most  brutal  aspects,  through  a  mirage  of 
poetry,  and,  intoxicated  with  the  glamour  of  light,  surpassed  the  achieve- 
ments of  nature,  and  attained  his  ideal  through  the  glorification  of  truth,  as 
others  seek  to  attain  it  through  the  blinking  of  truth.  Holbein,  on  the  con- 
trary, with  less  genius  than  Rembrandt,  was  too  cold  a  nature  to  allow  truth 
to  weave  any  such  magic  spells  before  his  clear-seeing  eyes.  I  do  not  mean 
to  say  that  he  lacked  poetry  or  fancy — did  he  not  illustrate  the  'Praise  of 
Folly'  for  that  bantering  philosopher  his  friend  Erasmus  with  a  wonderfully 
sympathetic  pencil?  and  his  'Dance  of  Death'  bears  witness  that  he  was 
imbued  to  the  full  with  that  same  sombre  inspiration  which  animated  the 
medieval  poets  of  France  and  has  continued  to  inspire  the  poets  of  Ger- 
many. He  was  in  these  instances,  however,  rather  the  poet  turned  artist  than 
the  artist  turned  poet.  The  poetry  lay  in  the  story  which  his  hand  cunningly 
and  feelingly  delineated;  it  was  not  his  art  which  poetized  the  tales  he  wished 
to  tell.   .  .   . 

In  the  same  way,  he  had  no  great  talent  for  the  necessary  falsification 
involved  in  historical  painting,  and  he  seems  to  have  felt  a  certain  self-respect- 
ing pride  in  never  departing  from  his  native  Teutonic  style.  When  antiq- 
uity was  urged  upon  him  he  answered  that  he  had  no  need  to  go  so  far  afield 
for  models,  and  turned  to  the  men  and  women  about  him.  Rembrandt  held 
the  same  opinion ;  and  both  were  right,  for  both  have  proved  their  case  by 
creating  from  among  their  own  contemporaries  a  world  of  men  and  women 
who,  after  the  lapse  of  three  centuries,  are  as  living  to-day  as  they  were 
when  their  creators  first  begot  them.  Stand  in  any  of  the  great  galleries 
before  the  portraits  by  Rembrandt  or  Holbein,  and  look  first  upon  the 
painted  images  and  then  upon  the  sightseers  who  pause  before  them,  and 
tell  me  which  are  the  more  living  in  your  mind,  as  distinguished  from  your 
eye.    Thus  do  great  painters  continue  the  Lord's  work  of  creation. — from 

THE   FRENCH 


LOUIS    GEBHARDT  FROM    AN    UNPUBLISHED    MANUSCRIPT 

AMONG  the  treasures  at  Windsor  Castle — indeed,  to  my  thinking,  the 
L  chief  treasure — is  a  set  of  eighty-odd  drawings  by  Hans  Holbein. 
These  drawings — studies  for  portraits  many  of  which  were  later  executed 
in  oils — represent  the  ladies  and  gentlemen  of  the  English  court  of  Henry 


28  0ia^ttt^    in    ^tt 

VIII.  They  are,  for  the  most  part,  executed  in  black  Italian  crayon  upon 
rough-surface  paper  of  a  dull,  pinkish-red  tone.  Some  are  lightly  washed 
here  and  there  with  India  ink,  some  slightly  enhanced  with  colored  chalks, 
and  a  few  are  almost  completely  colored  and  elaborated.  Here  and  there 
one  is  roughly  scribbled  upon  with  memoranda  for  the  colors,  "the  eyes  a 
little  brownish,"  "this  bodice  red,"  or  the  like;  and  the  outlines  of  several 
have  been  pricked  through  in  the  process  of  transferring  them  to  canvas. 
Mere  preliminary  studies  as  they  are,  however,  they  seem  to  me  to  rank 
artistically  as  high  as  Holbein's  most  finished  works;  and  considered  purely 
as  drawings,  I  would  exchange  the  best  of  them  (were  I  so  fortunate  as  to 
be  their  possessor)  for  none  of  Raphael's  that  I  can  call  to  mind,  and  for 
but  one  or  two  of  Leonardo  da  Vinci's. 

Quite  apart  from  the  educative  value  of  such  drawings  from  the  hand  of 
a  master,  which  afford,  as  it  were,  a  peep  behind  the  scenes  and  show  us 
methods  and  processes  concealed  in  the  completed  work,  these  Windsor 
sketches  exhibit,  in  my  judgment,  all  the  preeminent  qualities  of  Holbein's 
genius.  If  I  have  a  fault  to  find  with  his  paintings,  it  is  that  they  are  too 
smooth,  too  perfectly  finished;  and  I  believe  that  in  more  than  one  instance  he 
has  carried  a  canvas  a  step  beyond  its  best  estate  and  thereby  lost  something 
of  his  natural  strength  and  directness.  Moreover,  I  cannot  rank  Holbein 
among  the  great  colorists.  Harmonious  his  tones  certainly  are,  but  he  seems 
to  make  use  of  colors  not  as  hues  and  for  their  own  sakes,  but  rather,  if  I 
may  so  express  it,  as  so  many  steps  in  the  scale  from  white  to  black,  or 
monochromatically.  In  other  words,  if  he  uses  blue  of  a  certain  shade,  he 
seems  to  use  it  not  because  it  is  blue,  but  because  blue  in  that  shade  will 
count  as  one  degree  darker  in  his  predetermined  scheme  than  a  red  of  the 
same  brilliancy  would  have  done:  and  here  I  find  my  judgment  confirmed 
by  the  fact  that  no  paintings  lose  less  of  their  quality  or  values  in  engravings 
or  photographs  than  do  those  of  Holbein. 

In  the  Windsor  drawings,  then,  we  miss  but  those  two  elements  which 
Holbein's  genius  could  best  affxjrd  to  lose, — finish  and  color.  On  the  other 
hand,  their  very  simplicity  and  sketchiness  seem  to  bring  into  greater  promi- 
nence his  three  supreme  qualities, — power  of  depicting  character,  technical 
mastery,  and  decorative  sense. 

To  explain  why  and  how  one  artist  succeeds  in  grasping  the  innate  char- 
acter of  the  face  that  looks  out  at  you  from  his  canvas,  and  why  and 
how  another  fails,  is,  like  the  definition  of  beauty,  a  task  too  subtle  for 
words.  No  artifice  will  accomplish  it,  no  skill  can  attain  it;  it  lies  deeper 
than  any  realism,  deeper  than  any  perfection  of  drawing  or  modeling,  and 
beneath  all  the  subtleties  of  chiaroscuro;  yet  it  is  as  evident  as  if  we  could 
demonstrate  the  process  by  geometry.  Perhaps  the  best  attempt  at  a  defini- 
tion that  I  can  make  is  that  the  artist  who  can  convey  this  sense  of  under- 
lying character  sees  not  alone  the  superficial  lineaments  of  his  model,  but  at 
the  same  time  recognizes  the  sitter's  innate  nature ;  and  because  he  recognizes 
it,  though  that  recognition  may  be  conscious  or  unconscious  on  his  part, 
he  is  instinctively  led  to  choose  just  that  one  among  the  multitude  of  flitting 


f^an^    ^ixlhein  29 

expressions  that  play  at  endless  hide-and-seek  between  his  sitter's  actual  self 
and  the  world  which  truly  shows  us  the  man  as  he  is;  and  that  having  seized 
the  true  aspect  of  his  model  in  this  one  flash  of  revelation,  the  artist  is  led, 
by  the  same  instinct  of  genius,  to  disregard  all  the  other  untruthful,  or  but 
partly  truthful,  and  confusing  aspects.  But  because  the  aspect  which  he  has 
thus  chosen  (and,  I  repeat,  perhaps  chosen  unconsciously)  does  show  us  the 
man  at  the  moment  when  his  outward  and  inward  life  fall  into  a  focus,  we 
recognize  it  instantly  for  truth. 

In  the  Windsor  drawings  Holbein  has  shown  us  the  personages  of  Henry 
Vni.'s  court  with  their  true  inner  selves  looking  out  through  their  faces.  In 
no  other  way  can  we  account  for  the  vivid  impression  of  reality — reality 
mental  and  moral  as  well  as  physical — which  they  make  upon  us.  The 
drawings  are  not  all  of  equal  value,  it  is  true.  Some  of  them  are  quite  lack- 
ing in  the  vital  spark;  some  have  evidently  been  elaborated  to  their  detri- 
ment by  another  hand  than  Holbein's;  but  among  the  eighty  are  there  not 
represented  thirty  persons,  at  least,  whom  we  feel  instantly  that  we  know, 
not  only  physically,  but  in  their  characteristics  and  dispositions,  and  of  whom 
we  could  predict,  with  some  likelihood  of  accuracy,  certain  actions,  and  pred- 
icate the  general  and  broader  elements  of  their  characters?  I  think  we  should 
not  need  history  to  tell  us  that  the  aged  Bishop  of  Rochester  would  have 
refused  to  renounce  his  religion  even  at  the  cost  of  his  head,  that  Anne  Boleyn 
was  selfish  and  feline,  or  that  Sir  Richard  Southwell  was  audacious,  tena- 
cious, and  self-interested; — and  so  I  might  go  on  through  the  whole  list. 

Reflect,  then,  for  a  moment  upon  the  fact  that  with  the  simplest  of  means 
— a  scrap  of  tinted  paper,  a  few  scrawls  of  black  chalk — Holbein  has  created 
images  of  some  thirty  complex  human  creatures,  from  which  we,  of  three 
centuries  later,  are  perhaps  better  able  to  fathom  the  true  inward  individual 
characters  of  their  originals  than  if  we  were  actually  brought  face  to  face 
with  them,  under  their  momentarily  shifting  and  confusing  aspects;  and 
you  will  perhaps  be  willing  to  conclude  with  me  that  there  is  no  greater  ele- 
ment of  genius  in  art  than  this  power  to  depict  character;  and  that  in  this 
power  Holbein  ranks  as  an  equal  with  Velasquez  and  Rembrandt. 

Of  Holbein's  technical  mastery  it  is  easier  to  speak,  and  yet  it  seems  a 
waste  of  words  to  do  so.  If  the  reader  has  with  his  own  hand  attempted  any 
of  the  processes  of  art  which  here  look  so  easy  as  Holbein  executes  them  he 
will  not  need  my  words  to  draw  attention  to  the  marvelous,  nay,  matchless, 
technical  command  over  form  and  line  that  these  drawings  evidence.  If, 
on  the  contrary,  he  has  never  attempted  such  processes  for  himself,  he  can 
never  fully  appreciate  the  mastery  exhibited.  Yet  none  can,  I  think,  quite  fail 
to  realize  Holbein's  supreme  technical  ability  if  he  will  but  consider  what 
has  been  here  accomplished  with  a  few  quickly  drawn  lines, — and  I  say 
quickly  drawn,  because  the  structural  lines  in  these  drawings  are  manifestly 
swept  in  with  one  motion  of  the  hand, — unniggled  and  uncorrected,  pure 
and  continuous  from  end  to  end.  With  one  quickly  drawn  sweep  of  a  bit 
of  black  chalk,  then,  Holbein  has  not  only  traced  the  outline,  with  all  its 
subtle  indentations  and  curves,  that  shows  us  the  age-fallen  cheek  of  Bishop 


30  iWa^tcr^in^rt 

Fisher,  but  has  indicated  its  texture  also,  so  that  it  looks  soft  and  furrowed 
like  the  skin  of  an  old  man.  With  another  such  sweep  he  has  outlined  the 
full,  plump  cheek  of  the  Lady  Vaux,  or  the  folded  garment  of  Sir  John  Gage, 
never  varying  one  iota  all  the  time  from  the  exquisite  truth  of  outline  as  out- 
line, and  yet  has  somehow  contrived  to  make  these  black  scratches  suggest 
to  us  successively  the  smoothness  or  flaccidity  of  flesh  or  the  suppleness  of 
cloth. 

Again,  and  as  another  evidence  of  Holbein's  technical  mastery,  look  at  the 
modeling  of  these  faces,  and  see  how  subtly  and  how  perfectly  it  is  suggested, 
and  with  what  slight  means.  It  has  been  accomplished,  too,  without  the  help 
of  any  such  strong  and  clearly  defined  shadows  as  Rembrandt  or  Leonardo 
would  have  used.  Each  face  in  the  drawings  is  illuminated  with  an  even 
and  diffused  light  coming  from  no  determinable  point.  Yet  so  keen  was 
Holbein's  eye  and  so  cunning  his  hand,  that,  depending  partly  upon  the 
exquisite  exactness  of  his  contour  lines,  partly  upon  almost  imperceptible 
rubbings  and  washings  of  the  paper  here  and  there,  he  has  suggested  rather 
than  shown  the  modeling  with  such  unerring  surety  that  we  imagine  that  we 
might  follow  delicately  with  a  finger-tip  each  soft  salience  and  each  rounded 
hollow  in  these  living  faces. 

A  third  quality  of  Holbein's  genius  which  these  drawings  preeminently 
exhibit  is  his  great  decorative  sense — a  quality  which,  it  seems  to  me,  has 
been  far  less  dwelt  upon  and  commonly  recognized  than  it  deserves  to  be. 
I  have  spoken  above  (and  perhaps  it  may  be  thought  over-slightingly)  of 
Holbein  as  a  colorist,  meaning  then  by  colorist  simply  a  disposer  and  har- 
monizer  of  hues;  but  as  a  distributer  of  values  I  cannot  overpraise  him. 
Did  ever  another  make  spaces  of  pure  creaming  white  so  to  sparkle  in  con- 
trast with  the  glow — I  can  find  no  other  word — of  velvet  black,  and  give 
each  of  these  fundamental  notes  an  infinitely  varied  and  added  worth  by  a 
cunningly  distributed  balance  of  surrounding  grays?  Such  a  comprehension 
of  the  delight  that  lies  in  a  skilful  distribution  of  values,  quite  apart  from  the 
question  of  color,  is  a  primal  quality  of  the  great  decorator.  In  Holbein's 
drawings  we  cannot,  of  course,  observe  this  quality  so  fully  as  in  his  paint- 
ings where  he  has  completely  elaborated  the  monochromatic  scheme,  nor 
in  them  has  he  taken  pains  to  elaborate  those  intricate  and  fascinating  patterns 
with  which  he  loved  to  enrich  the  garments  of  his  sitters,  adding  thereby  so 
much  of  what  the  artist  would  call  "texture  value";  but  now  and  again  he 
has  given  us  a  hint  of  his  pleasure  in  the  solid  mass  of  black,  relieved  against 
gray,  or  the  contrasting  brilliancy  of  a  touch  of  white. 

On  the  other  hand,  Holbein's  power  of  arranging  lines  to  decorate  a  given 
space  is  more  clear  in  these  drawings  than  in  his  finished  works,  for  in  the 
completed  paintings  we  lose  sight  of  these  lines  themselves,  and  scarcely 
recognize  how  largely  their  contours  and  patterns  add  to  our  pleasure.  Let 
me  ask  the  reader,  however,  to  set  these  drawings  up  before  him,  and  dis- 
charging from  his  mind,  if  possible,  any  recognition  of  the  fact  that  they  rep- 
resent human  beings,  let  him  look  at  the  image  of  lines  and  tones  presented 
merely  as  a  shaded  pattern  disposed  in  a  given  rectangle.     With  the  excep- 


ipanjf    i^olliein  31 

tion  of  those  few  cases  in  which  the  drawings  have  been  trimmed  down  from 
their  original  proportions,  let  him  observe  how  exactly  each  of  these  patterns 
has  been  set  in  just  the  proper  place  within  the  bounded  area;  how  cunningly 
calculated  is  the  enclosed  space  in  relation  to  the  spaces  left  blank,  and  how 
the  contour  lines  balance  and  echo  and  relieve  one  another; — in  short,  how 
beautiful  as  a  mere  piece  of  decorative  drawing,  quite  apart  from  all  ques- 
tion of  what  it  represents,  is  each  of  these  sketches.  If  the  reader  can  agree 
with  me  in  recognizing  these  achievements,  he  will  not,  I  think,  contradict 
my  assertion  that  an  artist  who,  even  in  sketches,  thrown  off  merely  as  pre- 
hminary  steps  and  aids,  could  compose  with  such  unerring  effect  had  a  genius 
for  decoration. 


p.     ALBERT    KUHN  'ALLGEMEINE    KUNST-GESCHICHTE " 

THE  place  assigned  to  Holbein  in  the  history  of  art  is  side  by  side  with 
Diirer;  yet  these  two  greatest  of  German  masters  are  in  many  respects 
very  dissimilar.  Both  lived  at  a  time  when  art,  inspired  with  the  fresh  breath 
of  the  Renaissance,  felt  a  new  impetus  and  was  turned  into  new  channels; 
but  in  Diirer's  works,  apart  from  a  few  isolated  and  unimportant  figures,  the 
influence  of  the  Renaissance  is  still  imperceptible.  The  whole  appearance  of 
his  pictures  is  old  German,  and,  if  not  actually  medieval,  they  are  at  least 
allied  to  the  art  of  the  fifteenth  century.  Not  so  with  Holbein.  He  stands 
midway  in  the  current  of  the  Renaissance,  and  if  we  except  a  few  of  his  ear- 
liest religious  pictures,  in  which  the  influence  of  early  German  traditions  is 
felt,  he  seems  wholly  and  strikingly  modern. 

There  is  no  doubt  that  Holbein  profited  by  the  study  of  engravings  of 
the  works  of  Mantegna,  but  as  he  must  have  seen  more  than  merely  a  few 
copperplate  proofs,  it  has  been  suggested  that  he  made  a  journey  from  Basle 
or  Lucerne  into  Northern  Italy.  If  such  be  not  the  case,  he  at  any  rate  cer- 
tainly had  opportunities,  both  in  his  native  town  of  Augsburg  and  in  Basle,  of 
knowing  what  was  being  done  by  the  Itahan  artists  of  the  time.  But  Holbein 
was  never  an  imitator  of  the  Italians.  His  pictures  are  truly  German  in 
character — not  only  in  the  figures,  but  in  the  decorative  accessories;  and 
these  last,  executed  in  the  most  beautiful  and  delicate  lines  and  in  a  peculiarly 
characteristic  way,  furnish  some  of  the  most  precious  contributions  to  what 
is  known  as  the  German  Renaissance.  .  .  . 

Diirer  was  a  profound  thinker — a  man  whose  nature  was  devout,  earnest, 
and  religious.  The  main  interest  of  his  pictures  lies  in  their  meaning,  in 
their  thoughtful  and  fervid  conception,  in  the  deep  and  weighty  significance 
of  their  subjects.  The  figures,  however,  are  often  cumbersome  and  devoid  of 
grace  or  charm.  Holbein's  figures,  on  the  contrary,  have  the  greatest  free- 
dom, lightness,  and  elegance;  his  taste  is  purer,  his  conception  freer  than 
Diirer's,  his  composition  simpler;  but  his  works  lack  the  depth  of  feeling, 
richness  of  thought,  and  earnestness  of  the  older  master. 

These  and  other  differences  between  the  two  great  artists  are  partly  to  be 
explained  by  the  period  in  which  each  began   his   career.     Diirer,  some 


32  iWia^tcnefin^lrt 

twenty-five  years  Holbein's  senior,  belongs  in  his  art  to  the  fifteenth  cen- 
tury; Holbein  was,  so  to  speak,  initiated  into  the  art  of  the  Renaissance 
with  his  very  earliest  instruction  from  his  father,  who  had  himself  just  passed 
through  the  transition  of  German  art  from  the  fifteenth  to  the  sixteenth 
century.  But  perhaps,  after  all,  the  truest  and  most  comprehensive  explana- 
tion of  the  difference  between  Diirer  and  Holbein  lies  in  the  difference  of 
the  spiritual  natures  of  the  two  men.   .   .   . 

The  wonderful,  artistic  composition,  the  weird  and  fascinating  invention, 
of  Diirer's  creations  are  justly  celebrated,  but  these  are  qualities  quite  apart 
from  the  technique  of  painting.  Diirer,  indeed,  is  more  of  a  draughtsman 
than  a  painter.  He  draws  with  his  brush  instead  of  painting  in  free  and 
flowing  strokes.  In  composition  Holbein  is  less  artistic,  but  in  the  technique 
of  painting  he  is  a  master  of  the  first  rank.  The  key  of  his  color  is  usually 
bright  and  clear  and  somewhat  cool,  as  would  be  caused  by  the  light  of  an 
interior.  Firm  decided  outlines,  tender,  delicate,  and  often  almost  imper- 
ceptible transitions  from  the  light  to  the  shaded  parts,  strong  plastic  model- 
ing, but  apparently  the  utmost  simplicity  in  the  handling,  are  characteristic 
features  of  Holbein's  pictures.  His  coloring  became  constantly  more  and 
more  delicate  and  vaporous,  especially  as  in  his  later  pictures  he  made  a  freer 
use  of  ultramarine.  He  was  particularly  successful  in  his  flesh  tones,  which 
in  his  early  works  he  shaded  with  browns  and  grays,  and  later  with  blues. 
Like  the  painters  of  the  Netherlands,  Holbein  took  the  greatest  pains  with 
the  preparation  of  his  colors  that  he  might  give  to  each  picture  its  special 
light  and  freshness.  Faults  in  anatomy  and  proportion  are  not  uncommon 
in  his  works,  but  they  do  not  offend  one,  so  striking  is  the  artist's  keen 
observation  of  nature  and  so  true  his  feeling  for  form. — from  the  German 

Imile  montegut  <les  PAYS-BAS' 

THE  principal  characteristics  of  Holbein — those  which  have  made  him  a 
true  representative  of  the  Germanic  race,  and,  with  the  exception  of 
Albrecht  Diirer,  their  most  serious  artist — are  two:  first,  passionate  desire 
for  truth;  and  second,  indifference  to  beauty  for  its  own  sake. 

The  painter  who  has  a  genius  for  beauty  will  find  it  most  difficult  not  to 
be  untruthful  now  and  again.  The  oval  of  the  face  lacks  so  slight  a  change 
to  make  it  perfect;  if  the  line  of  the  nose  were  but  altered  a  hair's  breadth  it 
would  be  irreproachable; — why  not  aid  nature,  then,  when  she  needs  so 
little  correction?  Who  that  has  looked  on  Italian  pictures  cannot  divine 
that  their  painters,  seduced  by  their  innate  love  of  beauty,  have  so  falsified 
nature  time  and  time  again  ?  Leonardo's  '  Mona  Lisa'  is  irresistible,  but  was 
that  fleeting  smile  habitual  to  her  face?  was  it  not,  rather,  the  transitory 
expression  of  one  ephemeral  moment  ?  Of  such  falsifications  Holbein  was 
never  guilty.  When  beauty  sat  to  him — and  he  did  sometimes  find  her  before 
his  easel — he  painted  her  as  she  was,  with  no  corrections. 

Yet,  thanks  to  this  passion  for  truth,  from  which  no  allurement  of  beauty, 
howsoever  great,  seems  able  to  have  seduced  him,  Holbein  is  of  all  portraitists 


the  one  who  has  best  expressed  the  fundamental  likeness  of  his  model.  Other 
painters  have  better  caught  momentary  and  fleeting  aspects — Rembrandt  is 
incomparable  in  this  respect — others  have  better  depicted  those  graces  of 
expression  which  lie  upon  the  surface  and  bear  the  same  relation  to  the  face 
that  the  wildflower  bears  to  the  soil  on  which  it  blossoms.  What  Holbein 
inimitably  rendered  was  his  model  in  repose,  his  model,  as  it  were,  over  his 
own  centre  of  gravity.  He  shows  the  essential  structure  of  the  face — not,  if 
I  may  so  express  it,  the  light,  shifting  upper  soil  or  the  mantle  of  vegeta- 
tion, but  the  very  structure  and  stratification  of  the  human  physiognomy. 

It  is  for  this  reason  that  in  studying  his  portraits  we  are  perfectly  convinced 
of  their  absolute  resemblance  to  the  models.  If  we  are  not  shown  fugitive 
and  intermittent  expressions,  we  are,  at  least,  assured  of  those  durable  and 
permanent  qualities  of  which  his  sitters  could  no  more  rid  themselves  than 
they  could  of  their  skins.  Nay,  more; — he  has  shown  them  as  they  were, 
from  the  cradle  to  the  tomb,  in  spite  of  all  superficial  changes.  He  has  given 
us  what  was  innate  in  them,  what  was  present  in  the  flower  of  their  youth, 
in  middle  age,  and  in  wrinkled  senility.  He  has  seized  their  innermost  "me," 
and  has  depicted  it  with  an  incomparable  mastery. 

Had  he  painted  none  but  now  forgotten  mediocrities  we  should  not  have 
doubted  the  superior  quality  of  his  talent,  but  he  was  called  upon  to  paint  many 
personages  whose  deeds  and  actions  have  been  recorded,  and,  history  in  hand, 
we  may  guarantee  the  resemblance  of  his  portraits.  The  essential  character 
which  shows  forth  in  their  faces  corresponds  exactly  with  the  character  which 
history  assigns  to  them. 

It  is,  then,  in  his  ability  to  seize  and  to  express  the  fundamental  charac- 
teristics of  his  model  that  Holbein's  peculiar  genius  as  a  painter  of  portraits 
consists.  He  is  distinguished  from  all  his  rivals  in  that  he  saw  and  painted 
what  was  essential  and  permanent  in  the  men  and  women  of  his  time. — 

ABRIDGED  FROM   THE  FRENCH 

CHARLES     BLANC  <DE    PARIS    A    VENISE" 

THE  drawings  of  Holbein  are  wholly  admirable — graceful,  frank,  and 
profound.  Beneath  his  pencil  the  most  unpromising  features  are  never 
ugly:  life  animates  them  and  soul  lights  them  up.  One  is  almost  inclined 
to  believe  that  Holbein  was  the  intimate  friend  of  every  one  of  his  sitters, 
and  had  come  to  know  each  of  them  so  well  that  he  was  able  to  divine  his 
or  her  most  secret  thoughts  and  dispositions.  With  his  faithful,  delicate  pen- 
cil he  has  outlined  the  most  subtle  and  elusive  lineaments  of  the  face — 
those  impalpable  lines  which  life  traces  around  mouth  and  eyes,  and  upon  the 
temples.  He  seems,  indeed,  even  to  have  numbered  the  lashes  which  shade 
the  eyes,  and  to  make  us  conscious  of  the  very  down  upon  the  skin.  Yet 
every  one  of  these  subtle  touches  joins  in  the  creation  of  the  fundamental 
expression — indeed,  these  delicate  lines  seem  but  a  fairy  net  in  which  the 
master  has  entrapped  the  sitter's  very  soul.  And  yet  how  simply  is  the  won- 
derful effect  achieved;  not  a  single  careless  or  unavailing  line,  not  a  touch 
which  could  be  spared.  —  from  the  French 


34  ;^a0ttt0    in    ^vt 

Ci)e  Bratotnss  of  floliem 

RICHARD     R.     HOLMES  «PORTRAITS    BY    HANS    HOLBEIN' 

THE  collection  of  drawings  by  Hans  Holbein  forms  one  of  the  chief 
treasures  of  the  Royal  Library  at  Windsor  Castle.  The  whole  collec- 
tion amounts  in  number  to  eighty-seven,  but  of  these  some  are  certainly 
only  copies,  while  one  or  two  bear  no  trace  of  either  the  style  or  hand  of 
the  master.  It  covers  the  whole  period  of  Holbein's  sojourn  in  England, 
and  represents,  in  a  fuller  and  more  perfect  manner  than  any  other,  the 
extent  and  variety  of  his  work  in  portraiture,  from  his  introduction  to  Sir 
Thomas  More  in  1526  until  his  death  in  1543. 

The  history  of  this  matchless  and  invaluable  collection  is  not  known  with 
absolute  accuracy.  After  the  death  of  Holbein,  but  at  what  time  cannot  be 
ascertained,  the  drawings  were  removed  to  France;  it  is  possible  that  they 
remained  in  England  during  the  reign  of  Edward  VL,  whose  tutor.  Sir  John 
Cheke,  made  a  list  of  them,  from  which  some  of  the  present  names  were 
given  to  the  portraits.  This  list,  however,  has  not  come  down  to  us,  and  in 
many  cases  the  names  must  have  been  added  long  after  the  time  of  the  exe- 
cution of  the  drawings,  as  they  are  indubitably  incorrect.  Nothing  more  is 
known  of  the  collection  till  it  was  obtained  by  Charles  I.  from  the  French 
ambassador,  M.  de  Liencourt.  The  king  gave  it  to  his  lord  chamberlain, 
the  Earl  of  Pembroke,  in  exchange  for  the  small  picture  of  'St.  George'  by 
Raphael,  which  is  now  in  the  Louvre.  Lord  Pembroke  gave  it  to  the  great 
art  collector  the  Earl  of  Arundel,  in  whose  possession  it  remained  till  the 
dispersion  of  that  nobleman's  art  treasures.  The  manner  in  which  it  came 
again  into  the  possession  of  the  EngUsh  Crown  is  uncertain, — whether  it  was 
bought  for  Charles  II.,  or  later  by  his  brother  James  from  the  Duke  of 
Norfolk,  as  hinted  by  Wornum,  no  record  exists. 

It  was  not  till  the  time  of  George  II.  that  Queen  Caroline  found  the 
volume,  in  company  with  another  of  no  less  importance  containing  the 
drawings  of  Leonardo  da  Vinci,  in  a  bureau  in  the  Palace  of  Kensington. 
Her  Majesty  had  them  taken  out  and  framed,  and  for  many  years  they  formed 
one  of  the  chief  decorations  of  her  own  closet.  Early  in  the  succeeding 
reign  they  were  removed  to  the  Queen's  House,  now  Buckingham  Palace, 
in  London,  where  they  were  bound  up  in  two  volumes,  and  became  a  por- 
tion of  the  large  collection  of  original  drawings,  bound  in  a  similar  manner, 
which  was  formed  by  George  III.  During  Victoria's  reign  these  drawings  by 
Holbein,  as  well  as  those  of  other  great  masters,  were  mounted  and  arranged 
in  a  manner  more  calculated  to  insure  their  preservation,  and  to  render  their 
surfaces  less  exposed  to  risk  of  injury,  and  they  are  now  kept  in  four  large 
portfolios,  where  their  safety  is  fully  insured. 

The  drawings  themselves  are  executed  almost  entirely  in  chalk  of  various 
colors.     During  the  earlier  part  of  his  stay  in  England  Holbein  drew  the 


heads  on  white  paper,  and  the  colors  of  the  flesh  and  the  modeling  of  the 
features  were  represented  by  red  chalk.  Afterwards  he  made  use  of  a  paper 
the  whole  of  which  was  covered  with  a  ground  of  flesh-color,  and  the  model- 
ing was  rendered  upon  this  in  black  chalk;  the  outlines  of  the  features, 
the  hair,  and  the  details  of  dress  and  ornament  were  put  in  with  the  pen  or 
brush  in  India  ink.  These  outlines  of  the  features  in  some  of  the  drawings 
appear  almost  coarse  in  consequence  of  the  more  delicate  modeling  in  chalk 
having  disappeared  from  the  rough  treatment  to  which  in  past  times  the  paper 
was  subjected;  but  a  closer  study  will  show  that  it  is  to  the  combined  won- 
derful strength  and  delicacy  of  these  touches  that  the  portraits  owe  the  vivid 
and  lifelike  quality  which  they  so  preeminently  possess.  In  some  of  the  heads 
these  touches  occur  only  on  the  eyes,  nostrils,  and  lips,  where  the  marvelous 
accuracy  of  modeling,  particularly  in  the  corners  of  the  mouth,  is  not  ex- 
celled in  the  work  of  any  other  master. 


DESCRIPTIONS    OF   THE    PLATES 

•WILLIAM    FITZWILLIAM,    EARL    OF    SOUTHAMPTON'  PLATE    I 

WILLIAM  FITZWILLIAM,  Earl  of  Southampton,  held  many  impor- 
tant offices  under  Henry  VIII.  Knighted  for  his  services  at  the  Siege 
of  Tournay,  in  1513,  he  was  soon  afterwards  created  Vice-Admiral  of  Eng- 
land. He  was  sent  as  ambassador  to  the  French  court,  where  his  sagacity 
and  presence  of  mind  rendered  his  services  valuable  to  his  country;  and 
when  war  was  declared  against  France,  Fitzwilliam  was  appointed  Vice- 
Admiral  of  the  navy,  under  command  of  the  Earl  of  Surrey. 

In  1537,  having  in  the  meantime  been  made  a  Knight  of  the  Garter  and 
later  Treasurer  of  the  King's  Household,  he  was  raised  to  the  peerage  as 
Earl  of  Southampton.  Two  years  later  he  was  sent  to  Calais  to  meet  Anne 
of  Cleves  and  conduct  her  to  her  future  country.  In  a  letter  to  the  king, 
written  while  detained  at  Calais  by  bad  weather,  Fitzwilliam,  probably  think- 
ing it  advisable  to  make  the  best  of  a  matter  then  past  remedy,  repeated  the 
praises  of  the  lady's  appearance,  and  was  afterwards  accused  by  Cromwell  of 
having  thereby  encouraged  false  hopes  in  the  king's  breast.  Fitzwilliam's 
part  in  this  affair,  however,  led  to  no  disastrous  result  so  far  as  he  himself 
was  concerned,  and  we  hear  of  him  in  1542  leading  the  van  of  the  English 
army  on  its  march  into  Scotland.  While  so  engaged  he  died  at  Newcastle- 
upon-Tyne,  leaving  by  will  to  the  king,  with  whom  he  had  been  associated 
since  childhood,  "his  great  ship  with  all  her  tackle,  and  his  collar  of  the 
Garter,  with  his  best  'George'  beset  with  diamonds." 

In  the  drawing  of  him  by  Holbein,  made  in  black  chalk  on  flesh-tinted 
paper,  the  face  and  head  are  in  fine  condition.  The  body  is  merely  outhned, 
though  around  the  shoulders  his  knightly  collar  can  be  traced. 


36  :f^a^ttt0    in    ^tt 

♦WILLIAM    WARHAM,    ARCHBISHOP    OF    CANTERBURY*  PLATE    II 

riLLIAM  WARHAM,  Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  was  prominent  in 


Wl 


the  reigns  of  both  Henry  VII.  and  Henry  VIII.  His  services  in  con- 
nection with  the  impostor,  Perkin  Warbeck,  whose  pretensions  to  the  crown 
he  was  largely  instrumental  in  frustrating,  obtained  him  rapid  preferment  in 
Church  and  State.  Henry  VII.  appointed  him  successively  Master  of  the 
Rolls,  Bishop  of  London,  Lord  High  Chancellor,  and  finally  Archbishop 
of  Canterbury.  He  fell  into  disfavor  with  Henry  VIII.,  however,  and  in 
15 IS,  having  resigned  the  Great  Seal  to  Wolsey,  retired  from  all  public  busi- 
ness, except  that  connected  with  his  church.  He  discharged  his  duties  as 
head  of  the  English  clergy  faithfully  and  conscientiously,  and  such  was  his 
disregard  of  worldly  affairs  and  so  great  his  public  munificence  that  he  died 
poor,  leaving  not  more  than  enough  to  pay  his  debts  and  defray  his  funeral 
expenses. 

"Among  all  the  drawings  in  the  Windsor  collection,"  writes  Woltmann, 
"perhaps  none  equals  the  life-size  head  of  William  Warham,  Archbishop  of 
Canterbury.  The  outline  and  many  of  the  lines  of  the  face  are  traced  with 
the  utmost  exactness  and  decision,  and  the  severity  of  conception,  plastic 
feeling,  and  noble  simplicity  cannot  be  too  highly  praised." 

The  drawing,  now  unfortunately  somewhat  rubbed  and  damaged,  is  on 
unprimed  paper  of  light  stone-color,  in  black  and  red  chalks.  The  fur  of  the 
coat  is  yellow  and  the  collar  red.  The  finished  picture  for  which  this  study 
was  a  preliminary  sketch  is  at  Lambeth  Palace,  London,  and  another  similar 
painting  is  in  the  Louvre. 

♦THE    LADY    ELIOT'  PLATE    III 

THE  Lady  Eliot  was  Margaret,  daughter  of  Sir  Maurice  Abarrow  of 
Hampshire.  After  the  death  of  her  husband,  Sir  Thomas  Eliot,  by  whom 
she  had  three  sons,  she  married  Sir  James  Dyer,  chief  justice  of  the  Court  of 
Common  Pleas,  and  in  1569  her  death  is  recorded  at  Stoughton,  where  she 
was  buried  "with  much  solemnity"  in  the  parish  church. 

Holbein's  drawing,  made  in  black  chalk,  shows  her  in  a  yellow  diamond- 
shaped  hood  with  the  customary  black  "fall,"  and  with  an  embroidered  collar 
around  her  neck.  The  body  is  but  slightly  sketched,  and  the  whole  work 
has  been  somewhat  rubbed. 

♦SIR    THOMAS    ELIOT'  PLATE    IV 

SIR  THOMAS  ELIOT,  whose  great  and  varied  learning  recommended 
him  to  the  favor  of  Henry  VIII.,  was  among  the  first  of  literary  English- 
men of  his  time.  Educated  for  the  law,  a  writer  on  medical,  ethical,  and 
historical  subjects,  he  is  recorded  as  having  been  "a  very  good  grammarian, 
Grecian,  poet,  philosopher,  physician,  and  what-not  to  complete  a  gentle- 
man." He  was  knighted  by  the  king,  and  in  1532  went  as  ambassador  to 
Rome  to  expostulate  with  the  pope  on  the  proposals  made  by  the  latter  in 
regard  to  the  divorce  of  Queen  Catharine.     Owing  to  his  intimacy  with  Sir 


I 


i^anjefi^olfiein  37 

Thomas  More  and  his  attachment  to  the  Roman  Catholic  religion  he  how- 
ever fell  into  disfavor  at  court  and  disappeared  from  the  public  eye.  He  died 
in  1546. 

Holbein's  fine  drawing  of  him  is  in  black  chalk  on  flesh-colored  paper. 
The  hair  is  brown;  he  wears  a  black  cap,  and  fur  around  his  neck. 

'MISTRESS    ZOUCH-  PLATE    V 

IT  is  probable  that  Mistress  Zouch  (or  Souch,  as  the  name  was  frequently 
spelled)  was  Joan,  sister  of  Sir  Edward  Rogers,  Comptroller  of  the  Royal 
Household  to  Queen  Elizabeth,  and  wife  of  Richard  Zouch.  All  particulars 
of  her  life  are,  however,  unknown,  and  she  cannot  be  certainly  identified. 
The  hair  in  the  drawing  is  lightly  colored  with  yellow  chalk,  and  the  small 
round  jeweled  bonnet,  or  veil,  of  red  and  yellow  has  somewhat  the  effect  of 
a  coronet. 

'SIR    JOHN    GODSALVE'  PLATE    VI 

THIS  drawing  represents  Sir  John  Godsalve,  probably  the  same  person 
whom  Holbein  painted  at  a  younger  age  in  the  picture  called  'Sir 
Thomas  and  John  Godsalve'  of  the  Dresden  Gallery.  Sir  John  was  a 
wealthy  young  commoner  who  early  became  attached  to  the  court  and  made 
part  of  the  splendid  retinue  which  attended  Henry  VHI.  on  his  voyage  to 
Boulogne.  Edward  VI.  made  him  a  Knight  of  the  Carpet  at  the  magnificent 
tourney  which  followed  that  prince's  coronation,  and  later  appointed  him 
Comptroller  of  the  Mint.  While  holding  that  office  Godsalve  is  said  to  have 
been  concerned  with  the  vice-treasurer  of  the  Bristol  mint  in  those  pecu- 
lations which  were  a  scandal  of  the  time;  though  this  rumor  is  hard  to  recon- 
cile with  his  somewhat  puritanical  aspect — an  appearance  confirmed  by  the 
royal  account-book,  which  itemizes  that  on  New  Year's  day,  1539,  when 
every  one  at  court  brought  some  gift  to  the  king,  the  artists  their  own  works 
and  the  nobles  costly  pieces  of  plate  and  the  like,  Godsalve  presented  his 
sovereign  with  a  copy  of  the  New  Testament. . 

The  drawing  of  him  is  not  a  sketch,  but  an  almost  completed  work  in 
body-color,  and  probably  shows  how  Holbein  prepared  those  portraits  on 
parchment  or  paper  which  he  afterwards  glued  to  wood  panels  and  finished 
as  pictures.  The  background  is  blue:  Sir  John  is  dressed  in  a  purple  coat 
and  black  overdress  edged  with  yellow  sable. 

'THE    LADY    VAUX  '  PLATE    VII 

ELIZABETH,  Lady  Vaux,  was  the  wife  of  Thomas,  second  Lord  Vaux 
of  Harrowden,  the  poet  of  Henry  VIII. 's  reign.  In  Holbein's  Windsor 
drawing  of  her,  made  in  black  chalk  on  flesh-colored  paper,  she  wears  a  yel- 
low diamond-shaped  hood,  or  cap,  with  black  bars  and  with  a  large  "fall" 
behind.  There  is  a  finished  painting  of  Lady  Vaux  at  Hampton  Court  which 
is  attributed  to  Holbein,  and  another  portrait  of  her  in  Prague.  Both  drawing 
and  portraits  represent  her  at  about  the  age  of  thirty. 


3S  fSia^ttt^    in    ^vt 

•JOHN    FISHER,    BISHOP    OF    ROCHESTER*  PLATE    VIII 

JOHN  FISHER,  Bishop  of  Rochester,  was  born  about  1459.  Such  were 
his  virtues  and  learning  that  in  1502  he  was  appointed  private  chaplain 
and  confessor  to  Margaret,  Countess  of  Richmond,  mother  of  Henry  VH., 
and  was  later  made  Bishop  of  Rochester  and  president  of  Queen's  College, 
Cambridge.  A  zealous  promoter  of  the  New  Learning,  it  is  said  that  at 
forty-six  he  began  the  study  of  Greek  and  at  fifty  that  of  Hebrew.  Having 
pronounced  against  the  divorce  of  Henry  VHI.  and  Catharine  of  Aragon, 
and  having  become  involved  in  the  imposition  of  the  "Holy  Maid  of  Kent," 
to  whose  "revelations"  he  lent  too  ready  an  ear,  Fisher  was  accused  of  mis- 
prision of  treason,  and  refusing  to  take  the  oath  of  succession,  was  sent  to 
the  Tower.  While  he  was  confined  there  the  pope  made  him  a  cardinal, 
but  when  the  news  of  this  reached  Henry's  ears  the  king  is  said  to  have 
exclaimed:  "Yea,  is  he  so  lusty?  Well,  let  the  pope  send  him  a  hat;  I  will 
so  provide  that  he  shall  wear  it  on  his  shoulders,  for  head  he  shall  have  none 
to  set  it  on!"  Bishop  Fisher  was  brought  to  trial  for  denial  of  the  king's 
authority  as  head  of  the  Church,  adjudged  guilty,  and  beheaded  on  Tower 
Hill  on  the  twenty-second  of  June,  1535. 

The  best  portrait  of  him  is  said  to  be  this  drawing  by  Holbein  at  Windsor. 
It  is  on  stone-colored  paper,  in  red  and  black  chalk.  The  thin,  worn  face 
of  the  old  bishop  is  that  of  a  man  whose  learning,  purity  of  life,  and  piety 
might  well  have  called  forth  Sir  Thomas  More's  encomium:  "In  this  realm 
there  is  no  one  man  in  wisdom,  learning  and  long  approved  vertue  together, 
mete  to  be  matched  and  compared  with  him." 

'THE    LADY    HEVENINGHAM*  PLATE    IX 

THE  lady  here  represented  in  a  diamond-shaped  yellow  hood  with  a 
large  black  "fall"  is  probably  Lady  Mary  Heveningham,  although  the 
face  bears  a  remarkable  resemblance  to  Holbein's  portrait  of  Margaret  Roper, 
the  daughter  of  Sir  Thomas  More. 

Lady  Heveningham  was  a  daughter  of  Sir  John  Shelton  and  a  cousin  of 
Anne  Boleyn,  and  by  her  marriage  with  Sir  Anthony  Heveningham,  or  Hen- 
ningham,  whose  mother  was  also  a  Shelton,  became  doubly  related  to  Henry 
VIII.'s  unfortunate  queen.  We  may  well  imagine  that  during  the  king's 
short-lived  favor  for  her  fair  cousin.  Lady  Heveningham  was  an  important 
figure  at  court,  but  all  we  really  know  of  her  is  that  she  bore  her  husband 
two  sons  and  three  daughters,  and  that  the  Heveningham  family  flourished, 
wealthy  and  respected,  in  the  county  of  Norfolk,  until  this  lady's  grandson 
committed  treason  by  signing  the  regicide  warrant  of  1648,  and  the  family 
estates  were  forfeited  to  the  Crown.  In  1558,  however,  the  Lady  Hevening- 
ham became  a  widow,  and  soon  after  married  one  Philip  Appleyard.  She  died 
about  1563. 


'SIR    JOHN    GAGE'  PLATE    X 

SIR  JOHN  GAGE,  who  is  here  represented  in  a  slouch-brimmed  hat, 
was  one  of  the  most  notable  and  gallant  figures  of  his  time.  From  his 
father,  a  private  gentleman  who  died  while  Sir  John  was  still  an  infant,  he 
inherited  so  large  an  estate  that  the  Duke  of  Buckingham,  then  in  great 
power  and  favor,  condescended  to  ask  for  his  guardianship;  and  under  his 
care  the  young  Gage  received  an  education  which  fitted  him  for  both  army 
and  court.  He  fought  with  much  gallantry  at  the  sieges  of  Tournay  and 
Therouenne,  and  King  Henry  appointed  him  captain  of  the  Castle  of  Calais, 
but  subsequently  recalled  him  to  make  him  his  Vice-Chamberlain,  Captain 
of  the  Guard,  and  Privy  Councillor.  Sir  John  returned  to  active  service  in 
the  field,  however,  and  commanded  bravely  and  sagaciously  against  the 
Scots;  was  subsequently  appointed  to  many  offices;  and,  as  a  crowning 
honor,  was  made  Constable  of  the  Tower  of  London.  He  took  command 
of  the  army,  jointly  with  the  Duke  of  Suffolk,  at  the  siege  of  Boulogne,  and 
the  king  by  will  appointed  him  one  of  his  executors. 

He  continued  in  favor  during  the  ensuing  reign  until,  after  the  rise  of  the 
Duke  of  Northumberland  to  power,  he  in  some  way  contrived  to  offend 
that  haughty  nobleman,  and  was  dismissed  from  all  his  offices,  although  the 
late  king  had  granted  him  the  Constableship  of  the  Tower  for  life.  Queen 
Mary,  however,  restored  him  to  this  post,  and  made  him  also  Lord  Chamber- 
lain of  her  household.     He  died  in  1557. 


A    LIST    OF    HOLBEIN'S    DRAWINGS    IN    THE    ROYAL    LIBRARY 
WINDSOR    CASTLE,    ENGLAND 

WILLIAM  WARHAM,  Archbishop  of  Canterbury  (Plate  ii);  John  Fisher,  Bishop 
of  Rochester  (Plate  viii);  John  Colet,  Dean  of  St.  Paul's;  John  Russell,  Earl  of 
Bedford;  Francis  Russell,  Earl  of  Bedford;  William  Par,  Marquis  of  Northampton;  Edward 
Stanley,  Earl  of  Derby;  Henry  Howard,  Earl  of  Surrey;  The  Countess  of  Surrey;  Thomas 
Howard,  Earl  of  Surrey  (bis);  William  Fitzwilliam,  Earl  of  Southampton  (Plate  l);  Thomas 
Boleyn,  Earl  of  Ormond;  George  Brook,  Lord  Cobham;  Lord  Wentworth;  Lord  Vaux 
(bis);  Lady  Vaux  (Plate  vii);  Richard  Rich,  Lord  Chancellor;  Lady  Rich;  Lord  Clinton; 
Sir  John  More;  Sir  Thomas  More  (bis);  John  More;  Cicely  Heron;  Anne  Crisacre;  Sir 
John  Godsalve  (Plate  vi);  Sir  Richard  Southwell;  Sir  George  Carew;  Sir  Gawen  Carew; 
Sir  Thomas  Eliot  (Plate  iv);  Lady  Eliot  (Plate  III);  Sir  Thomas  Strange;  Sir  Thomas 
Wyat;  Sir  Philip  Hobby;  Lady  Hobby;  Sir  Henry  Guldeford;  Sir  John  Gage  (Plate  x); 
Sir  William  Sherington;  Sir  Charles  Wingfield;  Sir  Thomas  Parry;  Sir  Nicholas  Poins  (bis); 
John  Poins;  Philip  Melancthon;  John  Reskemeer;  Simon  George  of  Cornwall;  Nicholas 
Borbonius;  Anne  Boleyn,  Queen;  Jane  Seymour,  Queen;  Edward,  Prince  of  Wales,  after- 
wards King;  Edward  VI.;  Princess  Mary,  afterwards  Queen;  The  Duchess  of  Suffolk; 
The  Marchioness  of  Dorset;  Lady  Monteagle;  Lady  Meutas;  Lady  Heveningham  (Plate  ix); 
Lady  Lister;  Lady  Ratcliffe;  Lady  Parker;  Lady  Butts;  Lady  Audley;  Mistress  Zouch 
(Plate  v);  Mother  Jak,  nurse  to  Prince  Edward;  Several  Studies  of  Unknown  Gentlemen 
and  Ladies  of  the  Court  of  Henry  VIII. 


;§^a^ttt0    in    ^rt 


FOR  a  fuller  bibliography  of  Holbein  than  is  here  given,  the  reader  is 
referred  to  Volume  I.,  Part  4,  of  this  Series,  which  treats  of  the  paint- 
ings of  Holbein.    The  following  list  includes  only  additional  references. 

ALEXANDRE,  A.  Histoire  populaire  de  la  peinture:  ecole  allemande.  (Paris,  1895)  — 
xTL  Blanc,  C.  De  Paris  a  Venise:  notes  en  crayon.  (Paris,  1857)  —  Cust,  L.  'Hans 
Holbein'  in  Dictionary  of  National  Biography.  (London,  1891)  —  Gautier,  T.  Les 
Dieux  et  les  demi-dieux  de  la  peinture.  (Paris,  18 — )  —  Hazutt,W.  Criticisms  on  Art. 
(London,  1843-4)  — Hervey,  M.  F.  S.  Holbein's  'Ambassadors.'  (London,  1900)  — 
Imitations  of  Original  Drawings  by  Holbein  in  the  Collection  of  His  Majesty,  with  Bio- 
graphical Tracts  by  Edmund  Lodge.  (London,  1792)  —  Kuhn,  P.  A.  Allgemeine  Kunst- 
Geschichte.  (Einsiedeln,  1891  et  seq.)  —  Mander,  C.  van.  Le  Livre  des  peintres:  Tra- 
duction, notes  et  commentaires  par  Henri  Hymans.  (Paris,  1884-5)  —  Montegut,  E. 
Les  Pays-Bas.  (Paris,  1869)  —  Portraits  of  Illustrious  Personages  of  the  Court  of  Henry 
VIII.  from  Drawings  by  Hans  Holbein  at  Windsor  Castle.  (F.  Hanfstaengl,  London)  — 
Rousseau,  J.  Hans  Holbein.  (Paris,  1885)  —  Schneeli,  G.,  and  Heitz,  P.  Initialen 
von  Hans  Holbein.  (Strasburg,  1900)  —  Windsor  Collection  of  Holbein  Portraits  of  the 
Court  of  Henry  VIII.    (Arundel  Society,  London,  1877). 

MAGAZINE    articles. 

JAHRBUCHER  fur  Kunstwissenschaft,  1870:  Hans  Holbein  der  Jiingere  und  seine 
Familie  (E.  His).  1872:  Die  Ergebnisse  der  Holbein-Ausstellung  in  Dresden  (A.  von 
Zahn)  —  Magazine  of  Art,  1901:  Holbein's  'Ambassadors'  (W.  F.  Dickes)  — 
Westermann's  illustrierte  DEUTSCHE  MoNATSHEFTE,  1 896-7:  Hans  Holbein  der 
Jiingere  (F.  H.  Meissner). 


MASTERS     IN     ART 


MASTERS  IN  MUSIC 

(a  companion  work  to  masters  in  art) 

Edited  by  DANIEL  GREGORT  MASON 


SIX  VOLUMES,  CLOTH,  $15 


payments  of  $2.00  each. 

CONTENTS 


EACH  composer  is  taken  up  separately,  a  biography 
with  frontispiece  portrait  is  given,  followed  by  esti- 
mates of  his  genius  by  the  world's  greatest  musical 
critics,  and  selections  from  his  work,  carefully  edited 
and  accompanied  by  analytical  notes  by  the  editor.  To 
add  to  the  value  of  the  work  for  reference,  a  bibliog- 
raphy of  the  more  important  books  and  magazine 
articles  referring  to  each  composer,  with  a  classified  list 
of  his  chief  works,  is  included. 

The  principal  value  of  'MASTERS  IN  MtJSic'  lies 
in  the  selections  chosen  to  illustrate  each  composer's 
work.  There  are  1,152  pages  of  most  carefully  edited 
music,  printed  from  plates  engraved  for  this  work.  The 
analysis  of  these  selections  gives  a  clear  understanding, 
not  only  of  the  style  and  purpose  of  the  composer,  but 
of  the  right  way  in  which  to  play  them.  There  are  576 
pages  of  reading-matter  and  thirty-six  insert  plates 
showing  portraits  and  autograph  music. 


Volume  I 

Part  i,  MOZART 
Part  2,  CHOPIN 
Part  3,  GOUNOD 
Part  4,  MENDELSSOHN 
Part  s,  GREIG 
Part  6.  RAFF 

Volume  III 

Part  13,  WEBER 

Part  14,  FRvWZ 

Part  15,  LISZT 

Part  16,  PURCELL 

Part  17,  STRAUSS 

Part  18.  The  SCARLATTI  S 

Volume  V 

Part  25,  SCHUMANN* 
Part  26,  SCHUMANN  § 
Part  27,  CESAR  FRANCK 
Part  28,  MEYERBEER 
Part  29,  BRAHMS* 
Part  30,  BRAHMS  § 

*  Piano  t  Orchestral 


Volume  II 

Part    7,  VERDI 
Part   8,  HAYDN 
Part   9.  BIZET 
Part  10,  BEETHOVEN* 
Part  ii,  BEETHOVEN  t 
Part  12,  HANDEL 

Volume  IV 

Part  19,  ROSSINI 
Part  20.  DVORAK 
Part  21,  SCHUBERT  + 
Part  22,  SCHUBERT  § 
Part  23,  TSCHAIKOWSKY 
Part  24,  BACH 

Volume  VI 

Part  31,  RUBINSTEIN 
Part  32,  BELUNI  — 

DONIZETTI 
Part  33,  GLUCK      .. 
Part  34,  SAINT-SAENS 
Part  35,  WAGNER 
Part  36,  WAGNER 

§  Songs 


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MASTERS     IN     ART 


MASTERS  IN  ART 

BACK    NUMBERS    AND    BOUND    VOLUMES 


MASTERS  IN  ART  was  established  in  January,  1900.  As  will  be 
seen  from  the  following  list  of  painters  and  sculptors  covered  by 
the  first  eight  years,  the  bound  volumes  form  a  fairly  complete  reference 
library  of  Art.     The  subjects,  in  order  of  publication,  are  as  follows  : 

VOLUME  I  (1900)  treats  of  Van  Dyck,  Titian,  Velasquez, 
Holbein,  Botticelli,  Rembrandt,  Reynolds,  Millet,  Giov.  Bellini, 
Murillo,  Frans  Hals,  and  Raphael. 

VOLUME  II  (1901)  treats  of  Rubens,  Da  Vinci,  Durer, 
Michelangelo  (Sculpture),  Michelangelo  (Painting),  Corot, 
Burne-Jones,  Ter  Borch,  Delia  Robbia, .  Del  Sarto,  Gains- 
borough, and  Correggio. 

VOLUME  III  (1902)  treats  of  Phidias,  Perugino,  Holbein's 
Drawings,  Tintoretto,  Pieter  de  Hooch,  Nattier,  Paul  Potter, 
Giotto,  Praxiteles,  Hogarth,  Turner,  and  Luini. 
VOLUME  ly  (1903)  treats  of  Romney,  Fra  AngeUco,  Wat- 
teau,  Raphael's  Frescos,  Donatel- 
lo,  Gerard  Dou,  Carpaccio,  Rosa 
Bonheur,    Guido  Reni,  Puvis  de 
Chavannes,    Giorgione,  Rossetti. 
VOLUME  V  (1904)  treats  of 
Fra   Bartolommeo,    Greuze,  Dii- 
rer's    Engravings,    Lotto,   Land- 
seer,  Vermeer  of  Delft,  Pintoric- 
chio.  The  Van  Eycks,  Meissonier, 
Barye,  Veronese,  and  Copley. 
VOLUME  VI  (1905)  treats  of 
Watts,  Palma  Vecchio,  Madame 
Vigee  le  Brun,  Mantegna,  Char- 
din,  Benozzo  Gozzoli,  Jan  Steen, 
Memlinc,   Claude   Lorrain,    Ver- 
rocchio,  Raeburn,  and  Fra  Filip- 
po  Lippi. 

VOLUME   VII   (1906)   treats    of  Stuart,   David,   BockUn,   Sodoma, 

Constable,  Metsu,  Ingres,  Wilkie,  Ghirlandajo,  Bouguereau,  Goya,  and 

Francia. 

VOLUME    VIII    (1907)   treats  of  Sir  Thomas  Lawrence,    Ruisdael, 

Filippino  Lippi,  La  Tour,  Signorelli,  Masaccio,  Teniers  the  Younger, 

Tiepolo,  Delacroix,  Jules  Breton,  Rousseau,  and  Whistler. 

VOLUME  IX  (1908)  treats  of  Edouard  Manet,  Carlo  Crivelli,  Nicolaas 

Maes,  Lord  Leighton,  Duccio,  George  Inness,  Wm.  M.  Hunt,  El  Greco, 

Albert  Moore,  Moretto,  Sir  John  Everett  Millais,  and  Bastien-Lepage. 

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